Evening Brief: ‘We are in deep trouble with climate change’

We begin with the big, dark picture. As nations gather in Poland for the 24th annual UN climate conference, scientists aren’t mincing words in setting the tone: We are in trouble. The annual report released today by the Global Carbon Project, made up of 76 scientists in 15 countries, has found there’s no end in sight to the growth of humanity’s contribution to climate change. While emissions remained relatively flat between 2014 and 2016, any hope the world was turning a corner has been quashed, since, in 2017, emissions grew 1.6 per cent.

This year, the increase is expected to hit 2.7 per cent.

Chuck Legge

“We are in deep trouble with climate change,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said. “It is hard to overstate the urgency of our situation. Even as we witness devastating climate impacts causing havoc across the world, we are still not doing enough, nor moving fast enough, to prevent irreversible and catastrophic climate disruption.”

The NDP is calling on Ontario’s integrity commissioner to investigate Premier Doug Ford following the appointment of a family friend to the province’s top policing job. In a sworn affidavit sent to the integrity commissioner, NDP MPP Kevin Yarde accused Ford of breaking the rules governing members of provincial parliament.

“I have reasonable and probable grounds to believe that Premier Doug Ford, the member for Etobicoke North, contravened section 2 of the Members’ Integrity Act in appointing Ronald (Ron) Taverner Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police,” reads the affidavit.

The opposition objects mainly to the fact that Ford did not recuse himself from the final cabinet decision to appoint Taverner to the job last week. It also points to a story, first reported by iPolitics, that the job qualifications for the position were lowered — paving the way for Taverner to apply.

When asked whether he had left the cabinet table when his friend’s appointment was being discussed, Ford’s response yesterday was: “Recuse myself for what? I have final sign-off on everything in this province. Every appointment in this province, I sign off.” More from Marieke Walsh.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today “better answers” are needed from Saudi Arabia to explain the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He told reporters he said this to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G20 leaders’ summit last week. Trudeau also said Canada is still working with international counterparts to get more information about the journalist’s death, but didn’t say whether he believes bin Salman was responsible. That story from CTV News.

Turning to some unusually happy news, a motion calling for Canada to create a national strategy to combat ocean-plastics pollution received unanimous support in the House of Commons on Wednesday. By a vote of 288 to 0,M-151 will now move on to committee for study.

Introduced last November by Gord Johns, the NDP MP for Courtenay—Alberni, it calls on the federal government to develop a national strategy to attack the root cause of plastic waste in the ocean, and to help organizations working to preserve coastal communities. iPolitics’ Holly Lake has that good-news story.

Maybe we spoke too soon? A delegation of First Nations chiefs from British Columbia descended on Parliament Hill on Tuesday with a message for the Senate: If senators allow supertankers through their territory, reconciliation efforts will be sunk. They’re urging Ottawa to pass Bill C-48, the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act. The bill received support in the House of Commons in May and is now before the Senate, where it’s running into opposition. “If you want reconciliation to continue, especially with the Haida, this tanker ban has to be put in place immediately,” said Peter Lantin, president of the Haida Nation and special adviser to Coastal First Nations. Lake has that story, too.

Only family. According to a lawyer speaking for Brampton East MP Raj Grewal, those are the only people who helped him pay back significant debts he racked up gambling. As the Toronto Star reports, the lawyer’s statement comes in the wake of questions prompted by Grewal’s 11-minute video statement last Friday, in which the 33-year-old politician describes how his “mental health issue with gambling” drove him millions of dollars into debt and prompted him to borrow money “solely” from family and friends. “Everybody has been paid back,” he said of the loans, which he insisted are traceable.

In Washington today, former president George H.W. Bush was remembered as “America’s last great soldier statesman.” Family members and dignitaries from around the world gathered at the National Cathedral to bid farewell to America’s 41st commander-in-chief. His son, George W. Bush, was emotional as he paid tribute to his late father, describing him as “a noble man, the best father.”

In his eulogy, Bush said his father had taught him that “public service is noble and necessary. … He showed me what it means to be a president who serves with integrity, leads with courage, and acts in love with his heart for the citizens of our country.” He said he accepted that failure is part of living a full life, “but taught us never to be defined by failure. He showed us how setbacks can strengthen.”

There were also lighthearted moments, such as when Bush described his father as an adventurous man who flirted with death throughout his life, zooming across the Atlantic in his boat at age 85 and parachuting out of a plane at age 90. He was a man who preferred steaks and vodka martinis over broccoli, and who lived life at two settings: “full throttle and sleep.”

With an uneasy presidents’ club looking on, including Donald Trump, former prime minister Brian Mulroney sang his longtime friend’s praises. “Let me tell you that when George Bush was president of the United States of America, every single head of government in the world knew that they were dealing with a gentleman, a genuine leader, one who was distinguished, resolute and brave,” Mulroney said. He also touted Bush’s “strong” environmental legislation, including his 1990 strengthening of the Clean Air Act and a 1991 acid-rain treaty with Canada.

Here at home, Trudeau ordered flags lowered to half-mast today at federal buildings in Canada and the U.S., including the embassy in Washington. The federal government was represented by Ambassador David MacNaughton and MP Scott Brison.

Turning to tit for tat: President Vladimir Putin is warning that Russia will develop missiles banned under a Cold War agreement if the United States exits the pact. His comments follow NATO’s accusation yesterday that Russia has already broken the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Signed in 1987 by the U.S. and the USSR, it banned both countries’ use of all short- and medium-range missiles. As the BBC reports, Putin says the accusation is a pretext for the U.S. to leave the pact.